Network Working Group G. Huston, Editor
Request for Comments: 3172 IAB
BCP: 52 September 2001
Category: Best Current Practice
Management Guidelines & Operational Requirements for
the Address and Routing Parameter Area Domain ("arpa")
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo describes the management and operational requirements for
the address and routing parameter area ("arpa") domain. The "arpa"
domain is used to support a class of infrastructural identifier
spaces, providing a distributed database that translates elements of
a structured name space derived from a protocol family to service
names. The efficient and reliable operation of this DNS space is
essential to the integrity of operation of various services within
the Internet. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) has the
responsibility, in cooperation with the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), to manage the "arpa" domain.
This document describes the principles used by the IAB in undertaking
this role.
1. Introduction
The Domain Name System (DNS) [1] [2] is predominately used to
translate a structured textual identifier into a protocol-specific
value. It uses the structure embedded within a hierarchical
identifier space to create a distributed database, where every node
within the database corresponds to a node within the name structure.
The most prevalent role of the DNS is to store a set of name to
address translations, allowing a domain name to be translated to an
IP address. The DNS is also used to store a number of other
translations from hierarchically structured identifier spaces into
target values of various types.
Huston Best Current Practice [Page 1]RFC 3172 arpa Guidelines September 2001
The DNS is also capable of supporting a translation in the opposite
direction, from protocol values to the names of service entities.
One approach in using the DNS in this fashion has been to transform
protocol values into a hierarchically structured identifier space,
and then use these transformed protocol value names as a DNS lookup
key into the appropriate DNS name hierarchy. A common use of this
mechanism has been the reverse of the name to address lookup,
allowing for an IPv4 address to be used to look up a matching domain
name. For example, the IP address 128.9.160.55 can be associated
with the domain name "www.iab.org." by creating the DNS entry
55.160.9.128.in-addr.arpa." and mapping this entry, via a DNS PTR
record, to the value "www.iab.org.".
The resolution of protocol objects into service names is used by a
number of applications to associate services with a particular
protocol object. The correct and efficient operation of these
applications is dependent on the correct and efficient operation of
the associated "arpa" domain name servers.
2. The "arpa" domain
The "arpa" domain was originally established as part of the initial
deployment of the DNS, to provide a transition mechanism from the
Host Tables that were common in the ARPANET, as well as a home for
the IPv4 reverse mapping domain. During 2000, the abbreviation was
redesignated to "Address and Routing Parameter Area" in the hope of
reducing confusion with the earlier network name.
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB), in cooperation with the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), is
currently responsible for managing the Top Level Domain (TLD) name
"arpa". This arrangement is documented in Appendix A. This domain
name provides the root of the name hierarchy of the reverse mapping
of IP addresses to domain names. More generally, this domain name
undertakes a role as a limited use domain for Internet
infrastructure applications, by providing a name root for the mapping
of particular protocol values to names of service entities. This
domain name provides a name root for the mapping of protocol values
into lookup keys to retrieve operationally critical protocol
infrastructure data records or objects for the Internet.
The IAB may add other infrastructure uses to the "arpa" domain in the
future. Any such additions or changes will be in accordance with the
procedures documented in Section 2.1 and Section 3 of this document.
Huston Best Current Practice [Page 2]RFC 3172 arpa Guidelines September 2001